A newly proposed South Carolina law would make it illegal to ask for a person’s vaccine status.
Under the “Don’t Ask” bill, asking a person if they are vaccinated would be considered a misdemeanor crime, Fox Carolina reports.
“The government has no place in making you or telling you to take the vaccination or threatening your livelihood if you don’t,” said state Rep. William Chumley, the bill co-sponsor.
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The bill’s language says, “Any representative of a public, private, or nonprofit entity … who inquires about Covid-19 vaccination status … must be fined not more than $14,000 or imprisoned not more than one year.”
Chumley said the bill addresses a “freedom and job protection issue,” adding that current labor shortages can be blamed in large part on vaccine mandates barring workers from returning to the workforce.
“South Carolina didn’t want to get in this fight,” Chumley said. “It was brought to us by the federal government.”
“States have a right to impose certain laws if they want to, and to not impose others we feel are unconstitutional,” he added.
Labor law attorney Jeremy Summerlin of Greenville called the proposal impractical to implement.
“When you work it out practically, how it would play out in the real world, it’s insane,” he said. “You put employers in an impossible position.”
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“What if you ask your coworker about their vaccination status, and you are just having a conversation?” Summerlin asked. “What if you are a nurse and you ask a fellow nurse about it? Do you want the local law enforcement to go in and arrest them because of this law?”
